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Page 60
Several hours passed, and I remained near my window gazing on the sea;
it was almost motionless, for the winds were hushed, and all nature
reposed under the eye of the quiet moon. A few fishing vessels alone
specked the water, and now and then the gentle breeze wafted the sound
of voices as the fishermen called to one another. I felt the silence,
although I was hardly conscious of its extreme profundity, until my ear
was suddenly arrested by the paddling of oars near the shore, and a
person landed close to my house.
In a few minutes after, I heard the creaking of my door, as if some one
endeavoured to open it softly. I trembled from head to foot; I felt a
presentiment of who it was and wished to rouse one of the peasants who
dwelt in a cottage not far from mine; but I was overcome by the
sensation of helplessness, so often felt in frightful dreams, when you
in vain endeavour to fly from an impending danger, and was rooted to
the spot. Presently I heard the sound of footsteps along the passage;
the door opened, and the wretch whom I dreaded appeared.
Shutting the door, he approached me and said in a smothered voice, "You
have destroyed the work which you began; what is it that you intend?
Do you dare to break your promise? I have endured toil and misery; I
left Switzerland with you; I crept along the shores of the Rhine, among
its willow islands and over the summits of its hills. I have dwelt
many months in the heaths of England and among the deserts of Scotland.
I have endured incalculable fatigue, and cold, and hunger; do you dare
destroy my hopes?"
"Begone! I do break my promise; never will I create another like
yourself, equal in deformity and wickedness."
"Slave, I before reasoned with you, but you have proved yourself
unworthy of my condescension. Remember that I have power; you believe
yourself miserable, but I can make you so wretched that the light of
day will be hateful to you. You are my creator, but I am your master;
obey!"
"The hour of my irresolution is past, and the period of your power is
arrived. Your threats cannot move me to do an act of wickedness; but
they confirm me in a determination of not creating you a companion in
vice. Shall I, in cool blood, set loose upon the earth a daemon whose
delight is in death and wretchedness? Begone! I am firm, and your
words will only exasperate my rage."
The monster saw my determination in my face and gnashed his teeth in
the impotence of anger. "Shall each man," cried he, "find a wife for
his bosom, and each beast have his mate, and I be alone? I had
feelings of affection, and they were requited by detestation and
scorn. Man! You may hate, but beware! Your hours will pass in dread
and misery, and soon the bolt will fall which must ravish from you
your happiness forever. Are you to be happy while I grovel in the
intensity of my wretchedness? You can blast my other passions, but
revenge remains--revenge, henceforth dearer than light or food! I
may die, but first you, my tyrant and tormentor, shall curse the sun
that gazes on your misery. Beware, for I am fearless and therefore
powerful. I will watch with the wiliness of a snake, that I may sting
with its venom. Man, you shall repent of the injuries you inflict."
"Devil, cease; and do not poison the air with these sounds of malice.
I have declared my resolution to you, and I am no coward to bend beneath
words. Leave me; I am inexorable."
"It is well. I go; but remember, I shall be with you on your
wedding-night."
I started forward and exclaimed, "Villain! Before you sign my
death-warrant, be sure that you are yourself safe."
I would have seized him, but he eluded me and quitted the house with
precipitation. In a few moments I saw him in his boat, which shot
across the waters with an arrowy swiftness and was soon lost amidst the
waves.
All was again silent, but his words rang in my ears. I burned with
rage to pursue the murderer of my peace and precipitate him into the
ocean. I walked up and down my room hastily and perturbed, while my
imagination conjured up a thousand images to torment and sting me. Why
had I not followed him and closed with him in mortal strife? But I had
suffered him to depart, and he had directed his course towards the
mainland. I shuddered to think who might be the next victim sacrificed
to his insatiate revenge. And then I thought again of his words--"I
WILL BE WITH YOU ON YOUR WEDDING-NIGHT." That, then, was the period
fixed for the fulfilment of my destiny. In that hour I should die and
at once satisfy and extinguish his malice. The prospect did not move
me to fear; yet when I thought of my beloved Elizabeth, of her tears
and endless sorrow, when she should find her lover so barbarously
snatched from her, tears, the first I had shed for many months,
streamed from my eyes, and I resolved not to fall before my enemy
without a bitter struggle.
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